Dozens of countries have urged Palestinians and Israelis to commit to a two-state solution. France also warned US President-elect Donald Trump against moving the US embassy to contested Jerusalem.
Image: Reuters/B. Guay
Advertisement
More than 70 countries called on Israel and Palestinians to reconfirm their commitment to a peace settlement in a final statement at the end of a Middle East peace conference in Paris on Sunday.
The closing statement of the Paris summit urged both sides to "officially restate their commitment to the two-state solution" and distance themselves from voices that reject that solution.
The nations also warned that they would not recognize any unilateral steps taken by either side to compromise final negotiations on issues including borders, refugees and the status of Jerusalem.
The resolution did not explicitly refer to US President-elect Donald Trump or his incoming administration, but it did say that a new conference would be held by the end of the year for interested parties. Trump previously announced that the US plans to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and recognize the officially divided city as the capital of Israel.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault added that the basis for negotiation was a return to the borders of 1967 and a recognition of major resolutions passed at the United Nations.
Israel and Palestine respond
The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) welcomed the closing statement of the Paris summit, "which stressed the need to end the Israeli occupation."
Israel, on the other hand, said the conference was a "useless" event.
"International conferences and UN resolutions only distance peace (prospects) since they encourage the Palestinians to continue to refuse direct talks with Israel," the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.
Neither Israeli nor Palestinian representatives attended the Paris summit, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slamming the meeting as "rigged" against his country.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is set to meet with French President Francois Hollande to discuss the outcome in the coming weeks. Netanyahu declined a similar offer.
Pro-Israeli demonstrators gathered in Paris to oppose the peace meetingImage: Getty Images/AFP/P. Constant
UK refuses to sign
One major world power was noticeably absent from the summit's closing statement - Great Britain. A statement from the Foreign Office said it refused to sign the the joint statement, saying it had "particular reservations" about the Paris meeting.
"There are risks therefore that this conference hardens positions at a time when we need to be encouraging the conditions for peace," the statement read.
British reservations included the lack of Israeli and Palestinian representatives and the timing of the summit, which occurred "just days before the transition to a new American president." The Paris summit comes five days before Trump is sworn in as the next US president.
The UK's refusal to sign or to send a high-level delegation to the Paris summit was widely viewed as a sign of London's determination to stay close to Trump's incoming administration.
Both Hollande (R) and Ayrault (L) warned actions taken by Trump's administration could threaten the two-state solutionImage: Getty Images/AFP/B. Guay
Steinmeier: 'Risk of new escalations'
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned that should Trump move the US Embassy to Jerusalem, he would "risk new escalations" in the Middle East.
"This must be avoided, and at the least this conference can make a contribution in which all those who are interested in a lasting peace in the Middle East acknowledge and express that the two-state solution is the only way forward," Steinmeier said.
Diplomats also fear that Trump will condone settlements on land claimed by Palestinians. Sunday's conference also follows a UN resolution last month which decried Israel's efforts to expand its settlement of occupied territories in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Palestinian and Israeli leaders have not negotiated - even indirectly - with one another since a failed US-led peace effort in 2014.
rs/tj (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters, KNA)
A history of the Middle East peace process
For over half a century, disputes between Israelis and Palestinians over land, refugees and holy sites remain unresolved. DW gives you a short history of when the conflict flared and when attempts were made to end it.
UN Security Council Resolution 242, 1967
United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, passed on November 22, 1967, called for the exchange of land for peace. Since then, many of the attempts to establish peace in the region have referred to 242. The resolution was written in accordance with Chapter VI of the UN Charter, under which resolutions are recommendations, not orders.
Image: Getty Images/Keystone
Camp David Accords, 1978
A coalition of Arab states, led by Egypt and Syria, fought Israel in the Yom Kippur or October War in October 1973. The conflict eventually led to the secret peace talks that yielded two agreements after 12 days. This picture from March 26, 1979, shows Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, his US counterpart Jimmy Carter and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin after signing the accords in Washington.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/B. Daugherty
The Madrid Conference, 1991
The US and the former Soviet Union came together to organize a conference in the Spanish capital. The discussions involved Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the Palestinians — not from the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) — who met with Israeli negotiators for the first time. While the conference achieved little, it did create the framework for later, more productive talks.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Hollander
Oslo I Accord, 1993
The negotiations in Norway between Israel and the PLO, the first direct meeting between the two parties, resulted in the Oslo I Accord. The agreement was signed in the US in September 1993. It demanded that Israeli troops withdraw from West Bank and Gaza Strip and a self-governing, interim Palestinian authority be set up for a five-year transitional period. A second accord was signed in 1995.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Sachs
Camp David Summit Meeting, 2000
US President Bill Clinton invited Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat to the retreat in July 2000 to discuss borders, security, settlements, refugees and Jerusalem. Despite the negotiations being more detailed than ever before, no agreement was concluded. The failure to reach a consensus at Camp David was followed by renewed Palestinian uprising, the Second Intifada.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/R. Edmonds
The Arab Peace Initiative, 2002
The Camp David negotiations were followed first by meetings in Washington and then in Cairo and Taba, Egypt — all without results. Later the Arab League proposed the Arab Peace Initiative in Beirut in March 2002. The plan called on Israel to withdraw to pre-1967 borders so that a Palestinian state could be set up in the West Bank and Gaza. In return, Arab countries would agree to recognize Israel.
Image: Getty Images/C. Kealy
The Roadmap, 2003
The US, EU, Russia and the UN worked together as the Middle East Quartet to develop a road map to peace. While Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas accepted the text, his Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon had more reservations with the wording. The timetable called for a final agreement on a two-state solution to be reached in 2005. Unfortunately, it was never implemented.
Image: Getty Iamges/AFP/J. Aruri
Annapolis, 2007
In 2007, US President George W. Bush hosted a conference in Annapolis, Maryland, to relaunch the peace process. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas took part in talks with officials from the Quartet and over a dozen Arab states. It was agreed that further negotiations would be held with the goal of reaching a peace deal by the end of 2008.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Thew
Washington, 2010
In 2010, US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell convinced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to and implement a 10-month moratorium on settlements in disputed territories. Later, Netanyahu and Abbas agreed to relaunch direct negotiations to resolve all issues. Negotiations began in Washington in September 2010, but within weeks there was a deadlock.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Milner
Cycle of escalation and ceasefire continues
A new round of violence broke out in and around Gaza in late 2012. A ceasefire was reached between Israel and those in power in the Gaza Strip, which held until June 2014. The kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in June 2014 resulted in renewed violence and eventually led to the Israeli military operation Protective Edge. It ended with a ceasefire on August 26, 2014.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Paris summit, 2017
Envoys from over 70 countries gathered in Paris, France, to discuss the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Netanyahu slammed the discussions as "rigged" against his country. Neither Israeli nor Palestinian representatives attended the summit. "A two-state solution is the only possible one," French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said at the opening of the event.
Image: Reuters/T. Samson
Deteriorating relations in 2017
Despite the year's optimistic opening, 2017 brought further stagnation in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. A deadly summer attack on Israeli police at the Temple Mount, a site holy to both Jews and Muslims, sparked deadly clashes. Then US President Donald Trump's plan to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem prompted Palestinian leader Abbas to say "the measures ... undermine all peace efforts."
Image: Reuters/A. Awad
Trump's peace plan backfires, 2020
US President Donald Trump presented a peace plan that freezes Israeli settlement construction but retains Israeli control over most of the illegal settlements it has already built. The plan would double Palestinian-controlled territory but asks Palestinians to cross a red line and accept the previously constructed West Bank settlements as Israeli territory. Palestinians reject the plan.
Image: Reuters/M. Salem
Conflict reignites in 2021
Plans to evict four families and give their homes in East Jerusalem to Jewish settlers led to escalating violence in May 2021. Hamas fired over 2,000 rockets at Israel, and Israeli military airstrikes razed buildings in the Gaza Strip. The international community, including Germany's Foreign Ministry, called for an end to the violence and both sides to return to the negotiating table.
